In-Game Blog Replay

Hofstra will be the top seed in the CAA playoffs and will have
homefield advantage throughout the four-team tournament.

“It was one of our goals to be in the CAA
tournament,” Hofstra coach Seth Tierney said, “and now
to be in the CAA tournament and to be the No. 1 seed and to have a
home game on that Wednesday, that’s a great goal we had and
now we can check that box.”

Junior Mike Malave netted a career-high five goals for the Pride
(10-3, 4-0 CAA). Sophomore Sam Llinares had two goals and three
assists in the win.

Hofstra has won 10 of its last 11 contests after starting the
season 0-2. The Pride knocked off No. 11 Cornell in overtime last
Saturday and has won five straight.

“There’s a great vibe to this team right now,”
Malave said. “We really feel like we’re going and
getting hot at the right time. [The] end of the season is when you
want to play your best lacrosse and that’s what we’ve
been doing."

UMass (7-5, 1-3 CAA) pulled within one at 6-5 with 3:54 left in
the second, but Malave added an insurance goal 38 seconds later and
scored later in the third to put the visitors up three and help the
Hofstra pull away.

“We want to just keep our poise the entire game,”
Malave said. “No matter what happens, we don’t want to
let ourselves get down and that’s what we did
today.”

Freshman Kris Clarke won 15-of-21 faceoffs for the Pride,
dominating UMass senior Joe Calvello. The Minutemen didn’t
get their first possession until 4:26 into the game.

Hofstra jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, including two
goals on its first two possessions. Malave opened the scoring with
a goal 50 seconds into the game, followed by a pair of goals from
senior Torin Varn. Llinares assisted the opening three goals.

“When Sam has the ball, there’s a sense of
calmness,” Tierney said of Llinares running the offense.
“He does a really good job with it and very rarely does he
make mistakes.”

Hofstra outshot UMass, 38-25, and at the end of the third had a
32-14 advantage.

Redshirt sophomore goalie Zach Oliveri had 15 saves for the
Minutemen. Junior Chris Selva had eight saves in net for the
Pride.

Hofstra faces Penn State next Saturday in its final regular
season game. Meanwhile, UMass travels to Delaware next week with
the winner securing the fourth and final spot in the CAA tournament
with the Nittany Lions not eligible for the conference tournament
after a September vote by the CAA athletic directors due to their
move to the Big Ten Conference next season.

Hofstra missed the CAA playoffs the previous two years,
something Llinares and Co. are happy to avenge this time
around.

“The last two seasons didn’t go the way we wanted
it, and we wanted to make a statement,” Llinares said.
“And I think we’re on track for doing that.”